Pope Leo XIV at Friendship Meeting says "Love is the force that can truly change the world...Let us all seek the path to walk together, to build a world of peace and love" FULL TEXT + Video in Rimini

Pope Leo XIV departed by helicopter  to visit the Friendship Meeting Among Peoples, where approximately 60,000 people were awaiting him. He landed at the Rimini Fiera heliport at 2:53 PM.Upon his arrival, the Holy Father was welcomed; then first visited the Exhibition on Saint Augustine and the Exhibition on Leon Harmel.
Pope Leo XIV then reached the Children's Village by golf cart, where he addressed a brief greeting to those present, and subsequently to the Auditorium where he briefly greeted the approximately 5,000 participants in the Rimini Meeting.
Below the spontaneous greetings of the Holy Father in the Children's Village and in the Auditorium and the speech that Pope Leo XIV gave to those present in the Great Auditorium of the Rimini Fair:
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Spontaneous greeting from the Holy Father to the Auditorium
Good morning! Hi, everyone! Good morning!

You have no idea how wonderful it is to see all of you here together. And you're just a small part, because there are so many more on the other side. Well done!

Thank you, thank you! The loudest applause should be for Jesus Christ: we are all disciples of Jesus!

Thank you! There are so many opportunities here to reflect on our lives, on society, on faith. I just saw one, which talks about the life of St. Augustine, which talks about love.

Love is the force that can truly change the world. "If we all want to change the world, let us begin with ourselves," says Saint Augustine. Your heart, our heart, which is so great, so capable of loving, must never be closed. Let us all seek the path to walk together, to build a world of peace and love.

Thank you! Continue on this beautiful journey. Always live with this enthusiasm, and you will see that we can truly build a world of peace and love. 
Congratulations!

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Spontaneous greeting from the Holy Father to the Children's Village

Good morning everyone!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for being here; thank you for this welcome and for this enthusiasm, which is a sign of the Spirit!

Listen for a moment... Years ago Saint John Paul II said: "If today's world needs anything, it is communion."

Even today we can repeat the same words. And if there is to be communion in the world, it begins with you young people, because you know how to build communion through friendship, you know how to respect one another to build peace, and the world needs you, your enthusiasm, your charity, your faithfulness.

God bless you all and may you always be faithful to Jesus Christ.

FULL TEXT ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER
TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE
47th “MEETING FOR FRIENDSHIP AMONG PEOPLES”
in Fiera di Rimini on Saturday, 22 August 2026
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Dear brothers and sisters,

I am pleased to be with you in Rimini, in these surroundings which are so dear to you because of the dedication, creativity and dialogue that your annual gathering at the end of August has been able to inspire and bring to life for many years. I thank President Scholz and Dr. Prosperi for their welcoming remarks.

At this moment in history, we understand more deeply the prophetic significance of the name given to these days almost half a century ago: “Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples.” As Saint John Paul II said to you, “The very sound of these words brings joy to the heart: ‘Meeting’! ‘A meeting of friendship’! ‘Friendship among peoples’! Words that take on a particular meaning in these often dramatic hours in the history of the world” (Address at the Third Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples, 29 August 1982).

Today too, peace is fostered and spread by people who love to encounter one another and are not afraid to engage with one another. In his Encyclical Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis taught us to cultivate social friendship, which is the public, dynamic and concrete expression of fraternity. Indeed, when we recognize one another in the dignity of being children of God, we come into contact with that which fundamentally unites human beings, beyond every difference, division or conflict. We can enter into one another’s experience, listen to one another and become friends — first as individuals and then as peoples. Before borders, definitions and institutions, there are always persons. This awareness lies at the heart of Christianity. You know this well, because you have been formed to read the Gospel as the revelation of God who comes to meet us — as an event, a gaze and an experience — awakening in each person the desire to be loved and to love. In this way, you have not turned the “Meeting” into a sort of enclave. On the contrary, it has become a crossroads for the Church and for society: an encounter that gives rise to further encounters and inspires new paths.

Let us give thanks to the Lord for this living heritage, which entrusts to you a great historical responsibility within the broader communion of the Church, at the service of a humanity that hungers and thirsts for justice. As the Second Vatican Council teaches us, “The joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well. Nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts” (Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 1). Yes, dear friends, this is a time for responsibility, especially for those who have received so much from a millennial tradition of faith that shapes culture. The various editions of the “Meeting” have, in fact, known how to draw from the great patrimony of the past the reasons for your present engagement with art, music, literature, science, economics and every expression of the human spirit. The title chosen for this year’s gathering, taken from the final verse of the Divine Comedy, likewise draws us into the history, in which God is Lord. “The love that moves the sun and the other stars” has not disappeared; it has lost neither its vigor nor its intensity. Yet it is a love that willingly remains silent, unlike those clamorous forces that shake the earth, the heavens and all creatures.

Yes, love moves! God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Mt 5:45). This is how Jesus describes the perfection of God, revealing the contrast between the generosity of his actions and the narrowness of human thought. Our calculations suffocate reality, but God’s gratuitousness lets it breathe freely. It is no coincidence that my Predecessors — Saint John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis — have all pointed to divine mercy as the point of convergence between the Gospel and the “new things” of this dramatic and wondrous era. To follow Jesus Christ in the wake of the tragedies and new beginnings of the twentieth century indeed requires a clear awareness that evil is not overcome by evil. As in heaven, so on earth, love is the law of life and the means of redemption — the way of the crucified Messiah. Today, Catholic culture must counter the false realism that rearms minds, words and nations, with the realism of mercy which recognizes that there can be no enemies, and that everyone, even those who oppose us, is a brother or sister to be looked in the eye and encountered in truth. Sin exists, of course, but stronger still is the redeeming love of Christ. That love commits us to purifying our thoughts, interests, habits, associations, plans and investments — indeed, every aspect of our lives – from all that the culture of power has tainted.

Among you there is no shortage of skills, sense of responsibility and resources to be placed at the service of an authentic conversion of peoples. “Obsession with preserving one’s glory, one’s ‘dignity’, one’s influence must not play a part in our sentiments. We must seek the glory of God, and this does not coincide with our own. The glory of God which is ablaze in the humility of the grotto of Bethlehem or in the dishonor of the Cross of Christ always astonishes us” (Francis, Address at the Fifth Convention of the Italian Church, 10 November 2015). Let us, then, together free our lives from suspicion, culture from arrogance, education from ideology, work from the idolatry of profit, and technology and finance from the business of death. Beginning with the organizations that we have created and in which we work, let us expose unjust structures of power that lie at the root of poverty, inequality, war and environmental disasters. Let us disarm technological development whenever it becomes invasive and destructive. We need courageous pioneers who, by first changing course in their own lives, can make the transformation required of everyone convincing and credible.

Let there not be only those who fan the flames of weariness and despair; let there also be those who rekindle dreams and visions! These two paths are incompatible because one feeds upon division, alienation and despair, while the other serves the Kingdom of God and his justice. “Our world is filled with attempts to seize control of markets and spheres of influence, often shrouded in reassuring rhetoric and seductive ideologies. Yet our hearts yearn for an approach that is wise and benevolent, akin to that which Mary praises in her Magnificat, when she proclaims that God’s mercy extends in every generation to those who fear him. This plan of mercy continues to unfold throughout history today, even amid the rapid and unsettling changes brought by algorithms and global networks, and it becomes a compass in the digital era for living our lives according to the Gospel. At the heart of everything is the mystery of the Incarnation” (Encyclical Letter Magnifica Humanitas, 230–231).

Dear friends, the disarming beauty of this Mystery calls for us to embrace “the educational risk” of which Father Giussani spoke to you. He intuited that “the educational pedagogy most capable of doing good is not one that flees from reality in order to affirm the good in isolation, but one that promotes the good within the world.” [1] He also insisted that being “in the world means engaging with the whole of reality – an engagement that is risky, if one wishes to call it so; but it would be better described as demanding.” [2] Brothers and sisters, let us now assume this responsibility, which means commitment to Christ and commitment to our world!

Dear young people, there are so many of you here, including quite a few volunteers. You are a sign that the future is promising, and not a threat! Many no longer believe this, whether among adults or your peers. Yet, silently, “the love that moves the sun and the other stars” still inspires hope. I witnessed this powerfully among young people like yourselves in Lebanon, Africa and Spain. Love moves us, urges us on, awakens us from our slumber, inspires new vocations and calls us to take risks. Do not be afraid to give yourselves fully! Open yourselves to a truly catholic spirit, broadening your networks beyond every overly narrow sense of belonging. Let your Movement, your groups and your communities be a springboard from which you can dive into the whole of reality. Resist whatever would separate you from brothers and sisters of different cultures, sensibilities and backgrounds, especially the poorest among them. Instead, go forth to meet everyone!

In every corner of the world, especially on the margins and among those who suffer, you will find people who are ready to help build the civilization of love. Do not let anyone belittle this word, which is the very name of God: “God is love” (1 Jn 4:16). In love, there is never coercion or indoctrination, nor manipulation, deception or recruitment. Love exists only in freedom, in genuine encounter and in the generous gift of self.

Dear young people, today the world seems surprised by your commitment to Christ, by the attraction you feel toward him and his word, and by your sense of belonging to the Church. For many today, the very fact that you are Christians comes as a surprise! Yet, without fanfare, “the word of the Lord sounded forth from you” (1 Thess 1:8). Saint Paul wrote this to the very young community in Thessalonica, and he added: “Your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything” (ibid.). This is not a matter of numbers, although it is moving to see thousands of your peers seeking Baptism in societies considered among the most secularized in the world. It is, rather, a matter of freedom because the truth can be encountered only in freedom.

We are coming to understand this ever more clearly in historical circumstances that have reawakened our deepest questions and an infinite longing for meaning, justice and peace. In this light, a certain loss of influence — something that we adults may perhaps have feared and resisted — should have revealed to us that we can place greater trust in the power of the Gospel, in the bonds it creates, in the vision it inspires and in the new life it brings forth. As my Predecessors have often reminded us, “The Church does not engage in proselytism. Instead, she grows by ‘attraction’.” [3] It is the attraction of a way of living in the world, about which Father Giussani provocatively asked: “Is it possible to live this way?” [4]

Already in the second century, moreover, the anonymous author of the Epistle to Diognetus observed that Christians “display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life” (V, 4). Of course, we must admit that we carry this “treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Cor 4:7), and that the credibility of our personal and communal witness is often marred by human frailty and sin. Yet it is the Lord who always raises us up, both as individuals and as communities!

Dear friends, always love the Church! Love and safeguard unity. It is worth repeating: “Always love the Church!” Dear friends, love and safeguard the unity of the “community” through which Christ has reached you and draws you to himself. As Pope Francis said on the centenary of your founder’s birth, “even difficult moments can be moments of grace, and they can be moments of rebirth. Communion and Liberation was born precisely in a time of crisis, in 1968. And later, Father Giussani was not frightened by the moments of passage and growth of the Fraternity, but faced them with evangelical courage, trust in Christ and in communion with the Mother Church” (Francis, Address to the Members of Communion and Liberation, 15 October 2022).

Dear friends, precisely amid the upheavals of this epochal change, and in a world torn apart by multiple crises, we can rediscover “‘the spiritual taste’ of what it means to be the People of God,” “gathered from every tribe, language, people and nation and living in different contexts and cultures … still on pilgrimage through time and already in communion with the Church in heaven” (XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Final Document, 17). In recent years, we have rediscovered the synodal and missionary dimension of being the Church, which calls us, first and foremost, to learn to listen to one another. “The gift of listening is something I think we all acknowledge, yet it has often been lost in certain sectors of the Church. We need to continue to discover how valuable it is, beginning with listening to the word of God, to one another, and to the wisdom that we find in men and women, in members of the Church and also in those who are searching for the truth, even if they are not yet — or may never become — members of the Church” (Address to the Participants in the Jubilee of the Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies, 24 October 2025).

This is a journey that also calls for the renewal of every association and ecclesial movement. I invite you, both within the Communion and Liberation Movement and within the particular Churches to which each of you belongs, to undertake this experience of walking together. It involves each person listening, allowing himself or herself to be transformed by the faith of others, and together, discerning new insights, taking further steps and responding courageously in obedience to the Holy Spirit. Synodality is not the name of a process, but the very nature of a people who, through friendship and encounter with others, come to recognize that they belong to God alone. In this way, authority is transformed into service, one that honors differences and fosters their harmony. In these troubled times, such a way of life constitutes a true sign of the times. Let us bear witness to the fact that every charism is given for the common good, that every gift increases when it is shared, and that every fear can be overcome. We must make this tangible, credible and desirable. You will know how to do this, dear friends, by following in the footsteps of your founder: by cultivating unity among yourselves, with those called to guide the Movement, with the Apostolic See that has recognized you, and with the Successor of Peter. May the Holy Spirit teach us the practice of communion. May he grant us a love for it, an appreciation of its beauty and the hope that sustains it. And may that Love “which moves the sun and the other stars” continue to guide us, dear brothers and sisters. Thank you.

Thank you! Thank you!

A fundamental element of every Christian community is prayer. I now invite everyone to join me in saying the prayer that Jesus taught us:

Our Father …

Benediction

Thank you, and have a blessed journey!
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[1] L. Giussani, Il Rischio Educativo, Milano 2014, 106.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Benedict XVI, Homily for the Inauguration of the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, Aparecida (13 May 2007); Francis, General Audience (11 January 2023).

[4] L. Giussani, Si Può Vivere Così?, Milano 2007.